Pioneer A05 - What do we know - FAQ attempt

[bumblebe]

Having just bought a Cendyne 4x, I'm ploughing through the posts and thought a little summary of questions/findings could be helpful for newcomers like me.

1) Installation:
a) It seems the drive only works in PIO mode, whcih might be just as well since Ultra DMA generally led to "communication problems", with the A04.

2) Burning Programs:
a) Nero works but apparently only at 2x?
b) PrassiDVD doesn't recognize the drive
c) others?

3) Media reports:
a) 2x DVD-R - Haven't seen any reports of cheap media available in the US working properly, even the Ritek 2x that work with the A04 FWw 1.31
b) 4x DVD-R - Haven't seen any reports and ther are rumours that discs might not be compatible with DVD drives.

I've certainly missed important things so feel free to correct/add

TIA

[pimp97max]

Having just bought a Cendyne 4x, I'm ploughing through the posts and thought a little summary of questions/findings could be helpful for newcomers like me.

1) Installation:
a) It seems the drive only works in PIO mode, whcih might be just as well since Ultra DMA generally led to "communication problems", with the A04.



2) Burning Programs:
a) Nero works but apparently only at 2x?
b) PrassiDVD doesn't recognize the drive
c) others?

3) Media reports:
a) 2x DVD-R - Haven't seen any reports of cheap media available in the US working properly, even the Ritek 2x that work with the A04 FWw 1.31
b) 4x DVD-R - Haven't seen any reports and ther are rumours that discs might not be compatible with DVD drives.

I've certainly missed important things so feel free to correct/add

TIA

1) I experienced the same thing..PIO mode only
3a) Not necessarily cheap, but the Maxell 2x DVD-R I have used so far worked great, but as I have said in many of your other threads, , i too am curious about some good 2x possibilities for this burner

Let me know what else you come up with in terms of this burner, I am always wanting to learn new things about my new toys [/b]

[BJ_M]

nero burns fine at 4x on a pioneer disk

prassi works fine if you apply the update which i posted in another thread .. i am using it along with nero ..

i use a firewire external case - so i have no idea what ide settings to use ..

i use apple disks which work perfect .. and also sometimes the pink disks (2x sold in 25 disk bulk) from esbuy which are i think tdk disks also ..

[BJ_M]

this is the prassi update http://eval.veritas.com/downloads/pro/exe/pxEngine358.exe

[bumblebe]

Thanks for that link BJ-M. I had done a search with no luck!
Ive also bought a firewire enclosure so we'll see how that works.

Thanks for the media reports too.

[Azza]

I have sucessfully burnt 4x Pioneer discs with Nero
Also no problems with DMA mode on Win2k Pro
Have used approx 15 pieces of Princo DVD-R with no problems

In fact use nero for all my burns, problem free.

[pimp97max]

I have sucessfully burnt 4x Pioneer discs with Nero
Also no problems with DMA mode on Win2k Pro
Have used approx 15 pieces of Princo DVD-R with no problems

In fact use nero for all my burns, problem free.

what speed do you get with the Princo DVD-R? and where did you get them?

how did you get DMA in Win2k Pro? that's what I'm running, and it still would only use PIO only, even if I had the DMA if available selected

[Azza]

I'm in Australia - I purchased my Princo from Salesmart (www.salesmart.com.au) for $A 3.50 each ($US2.00). They will only burn at 1X. That is a good price for here!

When I installed the drive WIN2K defauled to PIO only, I changed it to DMA IF AVAILABLE, rebooted and then it shows as Current Transfer mode : ULTRA DMA MODE. This has worked on 2 PCs now, we have a A05 at work and that is working under Win2K in DMA mode also.

Both machines that are running in DMA mode are very fresh installs, only a day old. Both are running SP3. One is an Intel 845 Motherboard and the other a SIS645 chipset. On both machines the drive is the master on the secondary IDE channel, the DVDR is the only drive on the second IDE channel.

[Wetmonkey]

the prassiprimo update above is the update engine that veritas put out to update their product you can go to www.stompinc.com and download the 4.5 recordnow max update as well, the ao5/105 will recognize with this version , P.S dont jump the gun on firmware updates by pioneer either they tend to include/exclude media types from version to version causing you to go maaaad!!¿?

[pimp97max]

I'm in Australia - I purchased my Princo from Salesmart (www.salesmart.com.au) for $A 3.50 each ($US2.00). They will only burn at 1X. That is a good price for here!

When I installed the drive WIN2K defauled to PIO only, I changed it to DMA IF AVAILABLE, rebooted and then it shows as Current Transfer mode : ULTRA DMA MODE. This has worked on 2 PCs now, we have a A05 at work and that is working under Win2K in DMA mode also.

Both machines that are running in DMA mode are very fresh installs, only a day old. Both are running SP3. One is an Intel 845 Motherboard and the other a SIS645 chipset. On both machines the drive is the master on the secondary IDE channel, the DVDR is the only drive on the second IDE channel.

ok, i see the difference...it could possibly be SP3, i'm not running SP3 on my win2k box yet

[hardwired]

P.S dont jump the gun on firmware updates by pioneer either they tend to include/exclude media types from version to version causing you to go maaaad!!¿?

I am in the market for a 4x dvd writer.
What is a "safe" firmware version to use on the A05?

I am reading too many reports of media incompatability because Pioneer wants it so. If I need to update the firmware to fix a bug for 4x, then woops I just lost 2X and my investment of blank DVD-R media is worthless. How can they do this?

My first impression was that DVD+R capability was no big deal. But if Pioneer is disallowing good writes on DVD-R media purposefully then DVD-R will be considered the wacky unreliable and incompatable format and users will move to accept the plus format. If the average user has to go into Best Buy, CompUSA, CC etc and wonder what blank media on the shelves is going to work with his Pioneer (Cendyne or other clone) then the product will be a failure and show negatively on the minus format. Which product do you think he will return the A05 for...food for thought.

I really wanted to like the Pioneer and would have one on the way right now but this is just horsepuppy. I'm going with the Sony 500A as soon as I can get my hands on one.

It's all really about the media.
Good luck!

[BJ_M]

this whole thing about pioneer doing something "BAD" about some media (making it only work at 1x) is a lot of bunk ...

sure a lot of media will only only burn at 1x - and rightfully so as much of it is crap -- sure it works some of the time on SOME players -- but overall compatability is bad ...

the true 2x media - at least most of it (some exceptions here also) IS better media ..

you cant blame pioneer if they certify only better media ...

anyway my opinion ...

[dun4cheap]

The alternative would be the Sony DRU500a. Since Sony introduced their new firmware it is able to burn the DVD-R 1x dvd's at 2 speed. It also has given the drive the ability to write 4x DVD+ and DVD- series. I am sure as the pioneer matures it to will have better firmware and better reliability. Wish you guys luck, and can only tell you that the wait for the better Firmware from Sony was well worth it. Maybe Pioneer will be the same.

[BJ_M]

"pioneer matures...."? pioneer was making dvd burners 3 years before sony or anyone else ..

[dun4cheap]

I was just wondering why it took pioneer 3 years to mature to 4x. You know their is no doubt that the A04 was a good machine. Sony is on their 2nd generation. Its amazing the leaps and bounds difference that Sony is offering in 1 year as compared to pioneer in three years. This just shows me that wrather than pay the money to research it and improve it they figured they would hold the market and keep the prices up. Now with healthy competition on the market prices are dropping. This is what I like to see, competition. By the way the 3rd generation doesn't seem to have helped Pioneer with the firmware at all. Look it all the wise remarks about sony's firmware releases shortly after the drive release. The fact is its a growing technology. Firmwares give the ability to be flexible in the change of the technology. Especially the DVD+R.

[hardwired]

sure a lot of media will only only burn at 1x - and rightfully so as much of it is crap -- sure it works some of the time on SOME players -- but overall compatability is bad ...

the true 2x media - at least most of it (some exceptions here also) IS better media ..

you cant blame pioneer if they certify only better media ...

Here is some more "bunk" on the A05's media incompatability:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7754

Of particular interest is MT Tech's field test results on various media.
http://www.mobiltech-media.com/a05_testresults.txt

Interesting that 2x media from TDK, Mitsui and even Pioneer itself do not work well. Maybe the Pioneer media division forgot to pay the engineering division And that sure is alot of Pioneer A03/A04 players recording just fine on "crap" media.

You would think Pioneer would have pretty good firmware and media compatability out of the chute with a 3rd gen product and considering the success of the A03/A04 (as long as your firmware level is prior to 1.33 )

[BJ_M]

ok -- i may be wrong ... i admit it ... seems there is some problems .. ive had non so far on apple disks (2x) and some 4x disks i bought from esbuy .(i did have problems with pioneer disks 4x and smart disk white label (burns at 2x on 104 and only 1x on 105) ..

ive upgraded the 104 i have to 1.33 , but since i only burn apple dvd-r in that one , i havent noticed any diff ...

i have the 105 in another machine right now (both are hooked up with firewire and i switch them around) and i will try more types of media also ..

this is good you pointed this out and i will start doing some more crc and error checking on all burns and if i find problems - the 105 is going back ..